Safety razors, especially single or multi-blade refillable cartridge razors and single or multi-blade disposable razors, are popular for their ease of use and wide availability to shave facial and body hair. The number of blades on the razor is typically increased from one to about two or three or even four blades to achieve. Unfortunately, such razors are known to pose several risks and problems for users. For example, although aesthetically appealing, a close shave is the result of pulling hairs from their follicles to cut them beneath the surface of the skin. As the short hairs grow back, they may become trapped in the follicle beneath the surface of the skin. This is known to cause ingrown hairs and can lead to irritation and even infection in some instances.
Direct contact between the sharp edges of the razor blades and the users' skin is also known to cause uncomfortable and unsightly razor burn. When continuing to shave before textured razor burn has fully healed, users, especially new users such as teen boys, are liable to cut themselves.
Some solutions have been proposed to solve these problems. For instance, many advocate more traditional methods of shaving, such as use of double edged safety razors and straight razors, to avoid irritating the skin. This solution is deficient though because such razors are subject to travel restrictions and may be difficult to learn to use. Additionally, those with particularly coarse or curly hair may still experience irritation and ingrown hairs because the cut edges may not necessarily grow away from the user's skin.
It may instead be preferable to simply trim the hair shorter while not shaving it completely. Indeed, it may even be aesthetically preferable to trim the hair in this manner and leave what is commonly called a “five o'clock shadow,” or stubble, on the face. As an example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,234,440 to Harrison teaches a comb attachment for trimming facial hair using a safety razor. The comb provided by this disclosure however, is only suited to trimming particularly long facial hairs as it is specifically formed to prevent cutting hair close to the skin. This would not be appropriate for creating a polished, short stubble appearance. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 5,386,750 to Morrison teaches a detatchable hair-trimming attachment having teeth that extend above and perpendicular to the razor blade. Formed to slidably engage or clip with a razor head from the bottom of the razor head, this proposal is deficient because it must be particularly sized for a specific razor head in order to be properly secured to the razor head. And DE20200501329 to Bloemen et al. teaches a detachable trimmer for a wet safety razor that clamps onto a razor head by way of retaining units formed as snap-in pins that grip behind an edge of the razor. This proposal is deficient though because it is limited to use with razors adapted to receive snap-in pin retaining units.
Although various proposals have been made to solve the problem, none of those in existence combine the characteristics of the present invention. Therefore, there is a need for an improved guard for wet-shave razors.